Community Forums

Spring1898 · 04-05-2023, 07:34 AM

Trying to learn more about the Cat series of engines.
What are the good years? Did acert mean EGR, or also DPF?

dadej · 04-06-2023, 06:40 AM

You might have moderator move to Powertrain Garage and put under Cat engines

vito.a · 04-06-2023, 12:01 PM

Most CAT engines received ACERT for the 2004 model year (2003 build).
ACERT stands for advanced combustion emission reduction technology. In 2004 this meant the addition of EGR on most engines.
DPF and DEF did not come along until 2007.
Most will agree that the 2004-2007 CAT powered coaches were still very good engines. Remember, a 2007 model coach will generally have a 2006 manufactured engine. Many coach builders stocked up on 2006 engines and used them into the 2008 model year.

moparmaga2 · 04-06-2023, 04:47 PM

As others have said, anything prior to 07 is "ok". Some of the big Cats before 07 like the 525 HP C13 found in some high end motorhomes were outstanding.

The 07-09 is when the Ballgame changed for Cat, and this marked the beginning of the end for Cat On Highway Engines. The warranty work cost Caterpillar more than they sold the engines for.

The 07-09s had an "ARD Head" that burned the exhaust gases using an actual spark plug instead of DEF like Cummins. This worked terribly, and put a lot of trucking companies out of business. The trucks could not even make a cross country trip without a breakdown, which was not going to work hauling groceries or flowers.

Stay far far far away from the ARD Head. My source is myself. I owned a 2009 Caterpillar 425 HP C9 engine equipped with the ARD head. It was in a Safari Cheetah 43 ft made by Monaco. Outstanding Quality, with one of the worst engines for reliability ever made (nobody knew at the time, it was all new). I never made it more than 3000 miles without visiting a Caterpillar dealership for something. I kept it for 4.5 years always hoping that the last repair or ecm update would finally fix it, but it never did. I was up to $44,000 in warranty work in 4.5 years, the engine cost $38,000 new in 2009. A company cant stay in business running like that, so Caterpillar pulled the plug.

Now imagine you were a trucker really putting on the miles. How much would the warranty work be in that case? Probably easily double or triple my $44,000 of warranty work in a vacation driven RV.